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Ivoree Reinaldo knew from a young age she wanted to make a difference in the world. And at just seventeen, she found where she could leave a mark: the insurance industry.
“Insurance has impact on things people will never see,” says Reinaldo, senior vice president of Property & Casualty (P&C) at Newfront. She points to the 1921 massacre that happened to the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Black communities couldn’t get insurance. Imagine if insurance allowed them to rebuild an entire community and pass on generations of wealth. Everyone in this country should be able to get insurance.”
Reinaldo has made a name for herself in the age-old industry. At Newfront, she became the first Black female insurance executive to be a principal and owner on the P&C team, a lead broker on publicly traded organizations, and promoted to senior vice president in P&C—all in 2021. She’s also Newfront’s first Black female executive to sell more than a million dollars in net revenue in a calendar year and cross a million dollars in total booked revenue.
In 2021, Insurance Journal named Reinaldo one of the Top 25 Agents of 2021—one of three women and the only Black professional on the list.
“I want to go to sleep at night knowing that I didn’t just make my day about me.”
Ivoree Reinaldo
At the center of it all is her commitment to support organizations and nonprofits desperately needing corporate insurance to impact their communities positively. Her mission aligns with Newfront, a tech-driven insurance company transforming the delivery of risk management, employee experience, insurance, and retirement solutions by building the modern insurance platform.
The importance of corporate insurance doesn’t get enough credit, Reinaldo explains. The list of things you can’t do without that insurance is exhaustive: rent office space, hire employees, take a company public on the stock market, or rent a car for business. Then there are the broader implications. People are less likely to serve on a board of an organization unless they are protected by insurance. Businesses are less likely to engage in transactions with organizations not adequately protected.
One of the more prominent benefactors of Reinaldo’s efforts is Black Lives Matter. The organization approached Reinaldo far before it was a household name, and its mission of racial equality and making the world safer for those with dark skin immediately affected the executive.
Reinaldo approached over one hundred different insurance companies seeking business coverage for the organization. She was told no over a hundred times.
“I think people might be surprised that over one hundred insurance companies even exist,” Reinaldo says. “I can’t tell you how many people slammed the door in my face after five minutes.”
Not having insurance puts an organization one accident or incident away from not existing, but BLM couldn’t even get a quote. Had it not been for Reinaldo’s tireless efforts, BLM wouldn’t have found coverage.
“Ultimately, we found a nonprofit organization who understood and valued what the organization was trying to do,” the SVP says. “They didn’t rush to judgment or just read those sensationalist headlines.”
It’s not the only organization that Reinaldo has helped strengthen. She cofounded the BLACKfront Employee Resource Group at Newfront and sits on the company’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council. She also serves as a board cochair for the Youth Leadership Institute, which aids underprivileged, at-risk, and diverse youth change discriminatory legal policy, as well as working with several other prominent private and publicly traded organizations.
Reinaldo also took her mission to those who make the laws. In 2020, Reinaldo spoke before members of the US House Financial Services Committee to encourage their support of the Nonprofit Property Protection Act. The legislation would allow insurance companies to offer coverage commercial carriers do not.
The legislation was never voted on, but Reinaldo has faced challenges before. And she won’t stop. “I spoke to a gap these people didn’t even know existed,” Reinaldo says. “I’m confident that we will be able to get this to a vote at some point, and I’m proud to have spoken the truth about a change we need in the insurance industry.”
Reinaldo says the work she has done for various organizations has exposed a gap, one that leads to groups being systematically prevented from operating: organizations focused on racial equity, women’s rights, and civil rights.
The executive draws a stark comparison to the perpetrators whose actions launched the #MeToo movement and the organizations she works to empower. The former were able to get insurance for decades, so why can’t nonprofits whose only goal is to make the world a better place?
“Insurance has impact on things people will never see. . . . Everyone in this country should be able to get insurance to protect their future.”
Ivoree Reinaldo
For Reinaldo, the work has only begun. Newfront is launching a women-owned and minority-owned or -operated insurance practice reflective of a modern society—an effort driven by Reinaldo.
“I want to go to sleep at night knowing that I didn’t just make my day about me,” she says. “I want to make enough change in the world, where these aren’t issues we have to discuss in the future. Imagine a world where this doesn’t have to be at the top of mind. But we’re not there yet.
“Regardless of where you or your clients may land on the political spectrum,” she continues, “it is important to be of service to others and find purpose in what you do. That is what being a true professional is all about.”
